Do Money Problems Derive From a Past Life in Which You Squandered Resources?

Today I receive an email from my “friend in Boston” who humorously mused that her present financial problems probably originated in a lifetime in which she was rich but did not use her abundance wisely. Her statement reminded me of one of my past lives that surfaced in a dream.

In this past lifetime, I had been a very wealthy woman. I was also lovely, young and had  three small children. When my husband had married me, part of the arrangement had included vast tracts of land as part of my dowry from my father. My husband traveled the world in four-masted schooners on his business ventures. He had “a girl in every port.” I felt so lonely and unloved. This life occurred during feudal times in France. I used to look out the window of our estate at one of our peasants gathering wood for his fire in our forest. I would think that he had to work so hard just to keep warm that he would never have the time to be unfaithful to his wife. I actually wished to be poor.

I relate this story to show that troubles in this life may not necessarily be the result of “just retribution” for misuse of abundance. We may have actually wished for the condition we presently find ourselves in.

The lesson is: Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!

Carol Chapman » Reincarnation

Divine in Nature Edgar Cayce Calendar for 2009

The cover of the Divine in Nature: With Inspirational Quotes from Edgar Cayce 2009 Calendar is ready. Here it is:

Copyright 2008 Carol Chapman

Carol Chapman

Swedish Geographer Believes Ireland Was Atlantis

A blog at http://dotie.wordpress.com refers to a book by Swedish geographer Ulf Erlingsson that says that Ireland is actually the last continent of Atlantis. The book is called Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective: Mapping the Fairyland. It was published in 2004.

Erlingsson takes Plato’s description of Atlantis in his 360 B.C. treatise, Timaios, and compares it with the geography of Ireland, for example, that both Atlantis and Ireland are islands ringed by mountains with a flat plain in the middle. He says that Ireland, like Atlantis, is 300 miles long and 200 miles wide.

Carol Chapman

Ek Balam, Another Fantastic Mayan Ruin

Like Edzna, Ek Balam is another great ruin that few people visit. It is so little visited that the sign is just a wooden board with “Ek Balam” painted on it. Of course, because it is so relatively unknown, it was especially on my list of places to visit.

If you’re visiting Chichen Itza, and have your own way of getting there–in other words, if you are not in a tour group and therefore can go places other than wherever the bus takes you, I highly recommend a side trip to Ek Balam. It’s about 30 miles north and east of Chichen Itza. The well-paved road heading north of Valladolid takes you to the Ek Balam archeological site.

Unfortunately, the turn off and driving directions were not very clearly marked. I find it imperative to have a map when driving in the Yucatan Peninsula. From the map, we could see there were two turn offs from the main highway that would get us directly to Ek Balam.

Incidently, while driving on the highway, we say fields of agave plants which are the raw ingredients of tequila.

Getting back to Ek Balam, like Edzna, it has a pyramid you can climb, something you can’t find in the more popular ruins of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Tulum.

Like Chichen Itza, Ek Balam has a marvelous ancient astronomical observatory. For me, the big attraction at Ek Balam are the amazing stone carvings of men with wings two/thirds up the largest pyramid. Some people believe these carvings represent angels. If they are angels, the winged men look like ancient Mayan men rather than our ephemeral European images of angels.

We love the Moon Travel Guide but it did not list the only restaurant we could find near to Ek Balam. A fantastic Italian restaurant in the small village of Ek Balam near the ruin. As you’re leaving the ruin, you’ll see a sign with an arrow directing you to the Italian restaurant. The food was wonderful. Absolutely scrumptious. The restaurant also has an adjacent motel.

Carol Chapman

Edzna Maya Mexico Ruin

During this year’s January 2008 travel to Yucatan, Mexico, we visited a ruin I hadn’t even heard of  before. It turns out that Edzna is the location Mel Gibson chose to stage scenes from his movie about the ancient Maya, Apocalypto.

Edza is located south of the popular ruins of Tulum and Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula. Unlike the more popular ruins, convoys of buses filled with tourists do not descend on the archeological site. Nonetheless, we discovered it to be beautiful. The main pyramid was built in five levels and is filled with chambers you can explore. It is one of the few pyramids in the Yucatan you can climb. Most of the more popular ones have been roped off.

Carol Chapman

Dream Interpretation: Write Your Dreams Down

I’ve had another example of the importance of writing your dreams down. In a previous post, I said that I could remember two dreams in which I’d been told to wake up to take photographs of glorious sunrises. Actually, I could only remember one of the dreams. It was only because of looking through my photographs that I found one labeled as resulting from a dream telling me to wake up and photograph the sunrise.

To my surprise, as I continued to sort through my photography files in preparation for designing the Divine in Nature: With Inspirational Quotes from Edgar Cayce 2009 calendar, I came across another set of sunrise photographs labeled, “From dream that told me to wake up.” These are lovely misty sunrises. I love them and will likely use one of the photos in the calendar.

If I hadn’t labeled these two sets of sunrise photographs, I would have thought I had only had one dream that told me to wake up and take sunrise photos. Only one of the three dreams had remained in my memory.

Carol Chapman

Psychic Development Enhanced by Study

We are all psychic because “psychic is of the soul,” as Edgar Cayce, the world’s best documented psychic, said in one of his trance readings.  Some people are naturally more talented in their connection with the spiritual. However, everyone can develop their psychic abilities. Even those individuals who are innately more psychic than others benefit from training of some sort.

Following the path to psychic development requires some real study, as well as deep inner work, even for those who are naturally gifted. 

Global Psychics Weblog » Opening the Psychic Channels

The blog post above goes on to recount a personal story in which a psychically talented person got into trouble by attracting negative vibrations due to the lack of effective preparation and closing.

For me, the simple, easy disciplines I learned in Edgar Cayce Search For God Study Groups have been very helpful, especially the “How to meditate” suggestions. They include a prayer of protection and using the 23rd Psalm at the end so that the spiritual centers opened during meditation are closed safely. The Cayce meditation technique also uses a positive affirmation to direct the spiritual unfoldment during meditation toward positive channels.

Have you ever had a scary psychic experience?

Carol Chapman

Dream Directions to Wake Up

Have you ever had a dream in which you are told to wake up and do something? This has happened to me twice when I’ve been told to wake up because there is a beautiful sunrise I need to photograph.

The first dream of this sort occurred a number of years ago. Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the widely popular Chichen Soup for the Soul series of books appeared in my dream and told me to wake up because there was a magnificent sunrise occurring right at that time and I should photograph it. He even showed me the best place to go to capture the best view of the sunrise.

When I woke up, it truly was a gorgeous sunrise.

The other dream occurred last year. I came upon it while sorting through photos today for using in the Divine in Nature: With Quotes from Edgar Cayce 2009 calendar. A person did not appear in the dream. However, I heard a voice within me tell me while dreaming to wake up and look out the window because there was a magnificent sunrise.

I woke up immediately, looked out my window, and sure enough, there was a fantastic sunrise. Because I’m a professional photographer, a dream like this is really important to me. It amazes me that the dream is literal–not symbolic at all. It says, “Wake up now. You don’t want to miss this.”

Here is one of the many photographs that resulted from that dream:

The question I ask myself: How could I have possibly known that there was a wonderful sunrise outside while I lay sound asleep inside the house with the blinds drawn?

Have you ever had a dream similar to this? One that woke you up with instructions to do something?

Carol Chapman

Ancient Egyptian Beliefs the Basis of Christianity

I found this selection interesting and insightful in that it described the concept that the one god of Christianity originated in ancient Egyptian belief very well so I could understand it in a new way.  I mentioned the concept in my new book, You Are Blessed, and especially like how it is put together here:

Our story begins in ancient Egypt with the pharaoh Aknaten. This pharaoh brought the concept of monotheism into the world for the first time. It was not the Jewish religion that believed this. It was the Egyptian mystery school at Heliopolis. The Jewish people were still worshiping idols such as the golden calf.

The name of the one and only true God was “Ra” and much of the surviving literature about “Ra” and his worship is very beautiful.

To make a long story short, The Jewish people were living in Egypt at this time. It was when Moses was born. . . .

Later Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt and into the wilderness. He went up into the mountain and came down with the 10 commandments that “Yahweh” had given him. The Jewish people were not interested and still worshiped the idol of a golden calf. The Old Testament tells us that this was a major turning point for the Jewish people. It was when they began to believe in the “one” God.

Modern Survivalism

Easter Sunrise in Virginia Beach

Today I visited Virginia Beach to photographer the sun rising over the Atlantic Ocean on Easter morning. To my surprise, I wasn’t the only one there. Many people gathered on the oceanfront to great the sun (Son) on Easter morning.

Afterward, I went to Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. and took numerous photographs there as well. The meditation garden, with its meandering water lily pond, arched bridge, and flowering camellias, looked lovely in the early light.

Carol Chapman